Prescription Drugs

Decision Resources forecasts that the Chinese gastric cancer drug market will nearly triple between 2007 and 2012. According to the new Emerging Markets report entitled Gastric Cancer in China, this growth will be fueled by increased access to health insurance and greater patient spending power, leading to increased usage of targeted therapies.

One in six Americans who have ever taken a prescription drug experienced a side effect serious enough to send them to the doctor or hospital, but the majority of consumers don't know they can report these side effects to the FDA, which is responsible for tracking drug safety problems.

A new electronic system for the prescribing of medications will provide Medicaid physicians in Louisiana access to cutting-edge technology to provide safe an efficient prescribing services as well as help drive down medication costs.

With a renewed national spotlight on prescription drug abuse, especially among teenagers, it is important to note as well the often over-looked issue of crimes against pharmacies. Despite the fact that robbing a pharmacy to obtain powerful pain killers and other controlled substances is a federal offense punishable by up to 20 years in prison, there are indications that all types of crimes in our nation's community pharmacies -- robberies, burglaries, fraud and other types of diversion -- are on the rise.

A new survey of employers that finds the utilization of pharmacy benefit management tools has helped to slow the cost of prescription drug benefits highlights the value of proven pharmacy benefit manager tools in increasing savings and access for payors and consumers.

More than 90% of drugs entering clinical development fail to get to market, due to the lack of effectiveness or adverse side effects not detected in animal tests. These false positives could be avoided with pre-clinical tests using stem cell technologies, potentially saving drug developers millions, according to Kalorama Information's new report Stem Cells: Worldwide Markets for Transplantation, Cord Blood Banking and Drug Development

Approximately 22,000 lives could have been saved had the drug Trasylol been removed from the market. Trasylol was finally taken off the market in November of 2007. The drug, which is used to decrease bleeding during open heart surgery but caused kidney failure which lead to the need for dialysis and an increased change of death for the patients.